a bit more behind the scenes

the leaders in the team of Koos de Ronde (NED), who scored 52.22 on his dressage test

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I’m assuming this is the daughter of Fredrik Persson (SWE)

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Josh Rector (USA) consulting with the U.S. team coach, Michael Freund, before driving his test (he scored 57.09)

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Then, in the afternoon session …

Tucker Johnson was the first to drive in the afternoon, and he was the final U.S. Team driver to go; here, he and a train of helpers head up the hill from the schooling area to the warmup arena (he scored 40.19 to tie with Timmerman)

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Tucker warms up under the watchful eye of coach Michael Freund

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knowing that Tucker plans to retire from competition after this event, the crowd (here, fellow U.S. team members and supporters) gave him a huge send-off

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Australia’s Boyd Exell warming his horses up for what turned out to be a phenomenal dressage test; he said later that he almost had to stop himself from smiling during his test because his horses were so good they “were doing it on their own”

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Boyd being interviewed by members of the press after finding out that his score (30.08) was a new record in World Championship competition